15 July 2023
I’m back home! Barbara picked me up at Holy Cross around 5:30 pm and took me to my pharmacy for Tramadol. I joked that she was my mule for drugs. I didn’t have my wallet and she paid for the drug ($1.70). Tramadol is a synthetic opioid used to treat sever to moderate pain. Hopefully, I won’t need it. Usually Advil stands me in good stead.
I got to the house around 6:30. To be honest, I was exhausted. I went to bed at 8:30 and slept like a baby until 4:30 this morning. I was wide awake. By 7 am I was on my morning walk.
The surgery recovery sheet recommends you walk. Not a problem. I’ve been missing my morning walks due to diarrhea and I wanted to get back to them. I managed 1.38 miles this morning. It was also good to get back into my routine.
I must have been tired because around 9 I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I headed back to bed and slept for another hour. I suspect I’ll be doing a lot of sleeping this week.
Instead of diarrhea, I’m slightly constipated. I’ll take that over the diarrhea although it does lead to some stomach cramps.
It was all a mistake. It was a false positive for Covid. In two days, I’ve had four Covid tests. The first was positive and done during the surgery. The second was done yesterday and was negative. Before they discharged me, they did two more and they were negative. My surgeon said when she saw the positive test during surgery it opened up a whole lot of questions in her mind. The second, third and fourth tests probably gave her some peace. I suspect the third and fourth tests were because they were concerned the negative was a false reading.
Since I tested positive during surgery, they put me on the Covid floor. The nurses there are great. They are also very careful to gown, glove and mask up before entering the room. Two nurses asked me to spread the word that Covid is back. Their case load is increasing and the nurses are very concerned and scared people will not take it seriously. One also indicated that it was good that I was going home and not staying on the Covid floor.
I have homework. I have to empty the drain bulb that is draining the area around my lymph nodes into a container and measure the amount of fluid. At this stage, it’s mostly bloody. Hopefully by the time I see my surgeon on the 20th it will be straw colored and the drain can come out. It’s not the most pleasant chore but it’s easily done. I pin the bulb to my shorts and go about my business after I complete the chore. It really doesn’t interfere with my sleep so that’s a plus. I just can’t sleep on my left side.
John is coming by today with home made chili and some rice crispy treats. Have I mentioned what good friends I have?
Another day in paradise with heat index of 105°F and thunderstorms!
Today’s flower is Bangkok Rose.
It’s another member of the coffee family (Rubiaceae) and is native to the Philippines. Look carefully at the bottom left and you can see a little orange flower. The white petal-like structure are actually the sepals of the flower and are by far the showiest part of the flower.
It reminds me of bougainvillea. The showy part of that is the colorful bracts. A lot of “flowers” are not actually the petals, stamens, pistil and sepals but modified leaves (bracts).
The name bougainvillea reminds me of the Pacific Island Bouganville. Dad was in the Pacific theater in WWII and was on that island. His army command relieved the marine contingent on the island. It was the scene of fierce fighting.
In any case, the plant bougainvillea belongs in the four-o-clock family of plants the Nyctaginaceae and it’s native to eastern South America. My Aunt Buleah used to have four-o-clocks growing around an old oak tree in her front yard and I would love to hang out there. They really did open their blooms at 4 pm. Of course, I’m not sure that was daylight savings time or standard time.
Another flower that has showy bracts is the American dogwood.
The green center is actually a cluster of flowers arranged as an umbel. The showy part are the bracts that subtend the flowers. It belongs in the family Cornaceae and over the years I’ve found six different species.
| Species | Common Name | Location |
| Cornus alternifolia | Alternate Leaf Dogwood | Great Smoky Mountain National Park |
| Cornus canadensis | Bunchberry | Acadia National Park, Lake Louise – Canada, Bugaboos – Canada, Emerald Lake – Canada |
| Cornus florida | American Dogwwod | O’Leno State Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park |
| Cornus foemina | Swamp Dogwood | Silver Springs State Park – Florida, Blue Springs State Park – Florida, Great Smoky Mountains National Park |
| Cornus sericea | Red Osier | Emerald Lake – Canada, Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park |
That only leaves me 13 more species and 3 varieties to still find on my hikes!
Stay tuned!
Fantastic that you are already walking so far. You are amazing. Your friends are amazing. Thanks for the updates. Stephen and I are now only checking every 30 minutes instead of every 15 to see what is going on with you.